Free funding for 3 and 4 year olds

All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year. If this is taken during term-time only, this would work out as 15 hours a week over 38 weeks of the year.

From September 2017, the government increased the free early education or childcare for families who meet certain criteria to 30 hours a week (if used over 38 weeks a year).

Your child remains eligible for the universal entitlement up to and including the term in which they turn five but once your child starts attending school, their entitlement stops.

Your child can start school in the September after which they turn four and must be in full time education at the start of the term after which they turn five (at this point the Free Entitlement funding will stop).

You can split your child’s entitlement between a maximum of two early years providers at any one time: three if your child has special educational needs and one early years provider is a district specialist centre.

Where both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family), and each parent earns, on average:

a weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage (NMW) or national living wage (NLW), and less than £100,000 per year

The minimum income requirement for a parent (over the age of 25) is £120 a week. The minimum wage for 21 to 24 year olds is £7.05 an hour, therefore, the minimum income requirement for this group is £112.80 a week.

A parent will expect (on average) to earn this amount over the coming three months. The eligibility criteria have been designed to accommodate parents with fluctuating incomes and those who are about to start working or increase their hours.

For example, a parent who is on a zero-hours contract will get work some weeks, but not others, and may not know in advance if they will have work in any given week. If, on average they work two weeks out of every three, and when they are working they get 25 hours of work at the minimum wage, their child will qualify for 30 hours of free childcare

Families where one parent does not work (or neither parent works) will not usually be eligible for the extended entitlement EXCEPT where:

Both parents are employed but one or both parents is temporarily away from the workplace on parental, maternity or paternity, adoption leave, or on statutory sick pay

One parent is employed and one parent either has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits received for caring, or is disabled or incapacitated based on receipt of specific benefits

Provider's information

All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year. If this is taken during term-time only, this would work out as 15 hours a week over 38 weeks of the year. Where children attend for fewer hours per week or a provider is unable to supply the maximum number of hours/funded weeks, the level of funding attracted will be prorated.

From September 2017, the government increased the free early education or childcare for families who meet certain criteria to 30 hours a week (if used over 38 weeks a year) - this is known as 'extended' entitlement.

See Which families will benefit from the extended entitlement of 30 hours per week from September? above for the list of criteria for this extended entitlement.

It is the early years provider’s responsibility to check that children are eligible for funding. They should ask to see birth certificates if they are in any doubt. Wiltshire council will give early years providers access to an online checking system to look up a parent’s eligibility for 30 hours per week.

Funding is allocated on the basis of where the child is educated, rather than where they live. This means that all children attending should be claimed for whether they live in or outside Wiltshire.

Wiltshire’s Local Code of Practice was developed in consultation with the Early Years’ reference group and summarises the local conditions providers must comply with in order to take the free entitlement. It also provides information about the administrative processes involved in claiming it.

Wiltshire’s early years providers receive funding for eligible three and four year old children on a monthly basis. The amount a group receives is calculated using a Single Funding Formula. Initial payments are calculated and paid according to an annual provisional funding estimate. This is revised throughout the year as the Early Years & Childcare team is provided with more accurate information about the actual numbers of qualifying children attending a provider during three funding periods - this is normally captured through the 'Headcount' exercise. The table below under 'What happens when' provides more information.

Early Years Pupil Premium is additional funding available to early years providers delivering funded hours to eligible three and four year old children. Funding has been set a national rate of 53p per hour and could give an early years provider an additional £302 per year per eligible child accessing the full 570 hours with them.

Children do not need to access the full entitlement to be eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium as funding will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

The Disability Access Fund is additional annual funding available to early years providers delivering funded hours to eligible three and four year old children. The following children will be eligible:

child is accessing three and four year old entitlement, and;

child is in receipt of Disability Living Allowance

Funding has been set at a national rate of £615 per financial year, and this will be paid as a lump sum payment to one early years provider nominated by the parent. Where a child attends more than one early years provider, the parent must nominate only one to receive the full funding.

Children do not need to access the full entitlement at a provider to be eligible, nor for a provider to be nominated to receive the Disability Access Fund payment. Once payment has been made, no further payment will be made to a new early years provider if the child moves to a new provision during the financial year.